1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a content providing method, a registration method of a user menu information database, a content providing program, a content requesting program, a user registration program, and a charge invoicing program.
2. Description of the Related Art
With the recent development and spread of the “network society”, Internet content services, previously available only for personal computers and the like, are now made available for portable telephones, such as i-mode (registered trademark) terminals.
Internet content services include free-of-charge services and billable services. Payment methods for the latter case include a direct payment to a content provider by a credit card, a bank transfer, and so on; and a proxy payment by a communications carrier serving as a payment proxy, wherein content charges are added to portable telephone service charges, and the communications carrier pays the content charges to the content provider on behalf of a content user.
The method of executing the proxy payment to the content provider includes five steps as follows, as shown in FIG. 1.
(1) The communications carrier determines whether a content provider that desires the payment proxy service is qualified. The content provider must pass the determination be found qualified to enjoy the proxy payment service (S11).
(2) The content provider who passes the determination registers content services that are offered in a content provider menu information database of the communications carrier (S13).
(3) A user who wishes to use the proxy payment service selects and registers content services that the user wishes to use from the content services listed in the content provider menu information database. The content services that the user registers are listed in a user menu information database (S15).
Here, the registration in the user menu information database is performed, for example, by contracting with a billable site, registering a push-type site, and registering a frequently-visited site.
(4) Then, the user views a list of the content services that are registered in the user menu information database. Since the registered content services, the list of which is displayed, are linked, content can be accessed as desired (S17).
(5) The communications carrier adds the user's portable telephone service charge to the content charges of the billable content services, collects, and makes a proxy payment to content providers as appropriate (S19).
Conventional use of the content providing method is explained using FIG. 2. FIG. 2 shows a user's portable telephone 11, an access point 13, a communications carrier 21, the Internet 17, and a content provider 19.
When a communication service is used, the access point 13 serves as a node for the user's portable telephone 11, connecting it to a network. The communications carrier 21 is provided with a gateway/authentication/menu server 23 for connecting the communication network of the communications carrier with the Internet 17. The user's portable telephone 11 is connected to the Internet 17 and the content provider 19 on the Internet 17 through the access point 13 and the gateway/authentication/menu server 23.
The gateway/authentication/menu server 23 functions as a gateway switch to the Internet 17, performs user authentication with reference to a user information database (not shown), enables use of the content services by the user and performs invoicing of the communication charge, the content charge for the content services used by the user, and the like, using the content provider menu information database 25, the user database 27, and the access log information database 29.
The content provider 19 provides the user's portable telephone 11 with content services through the communications carrier 21. The content services of the content provider 19 are registered in the communications carrier's content provider menu information database 25 by performing a registration request for the content provider's menu. When the content services are registered in the content provider menu information database 25, the content services are displayed in a “Menu list” of a “Menu screen” of the user's portable telephone, as content services in specific categories.
That is, the registered content services are categorized into, for example, “News/weather/information”, “Mobile banking”, “Credit card /security/insurance”, etc., and displayed in a list according to each category.
The user's portable telephone 11 displays the “Menu screen” by being appropriately operated using an “Initial screen”. Then, “Menu list” is selected from the “Menu screen”, and a desired category is selected. Then, the content services (content providers) registered in the communications carrier's content provider menu information database 25 are displayed in a list according to the category. The user selects and accesses the desired content service (content provider) from the list. The user then registers his/her subscription to a service in a “Registration screen” provided by the content provider, which is registered in the user menu information database 27, and the content service can be used. In addition, billable content services displayed in the “Menu list” cannot be used unless a proper registration is completed.
The content services registered in the user menu information database 27 are displayed in a “My menu” screen that is displayed with the “Menu list” in the “Menu screen” of the user's portable telephone 11.
In this manner, the user can directly select a content service from the content services displayed in “My menu”, which are registered in the user menu information database 27, without having to select a content service from the “Menu list”.
The access log information database 29 stores all of the access logs for every user. Based on the data of the access log information database 29, the communications carrier 21 adds billable content charges to the communication service charge, and issues an invoice to the user accordingly.
In addition, the communications carrier 21 consummates an agreement with content providers such that when a user does not pay for the billable content services, the communications carrier is not obliged to pay the content providers, and thereby avoids a risk associated with proxy payment transactions.
In this manner, the user can enjoy one-window payment through the proxy payment service, which is more convenient than the case where a credit card is used, with an added advantage that uneasiness and various problems are avoidable. However, since the billable content services for which the user can use the proxy payment service are limited to the content services registered in the communications carrier's content provider menu information database 25, a payment from a user to a content provider has to be directly made for billable content services that are not registered.
Further, since a portable telephone is being considered, the number of menus that can be registered is limited. For this reason, there is a limitation in the number of content services for which the proxy payment can be offered.
Further, a user who wishes to use the proxy payment service selects a desired content service from the content services registered in the content provider menu information database 25, and the user is registered in the user menu information database 27. However, even after the user is registered, when the registration screen is displayed and the user attempts to perform registration, the user may receive a warning of “Duplicate registrations”.
That is, the conventional portable telephone displays the registration screen, even after the user is already registered, possibly causing the user to attempt an unnecessary duplicate registration.